Playing Through-Golf Etiquette

[sandwedge]

Have you ever been stuck behind a slow group and asked to play through and then been told no?

I played a round this Saturday with a friend of mine at 8:30 am on a busy course. We were just a twosome. We got stuck behind a group of 4 women in their 60's. They were pretty slow and hitting the ball all over the place.

When we finally finished the front 9 and got to the 10th tee we noticed there were just 2 of them and they were sitting in their cart in front of the ladies tees. I asked them if they were waiting on someone and if they mind if we play through. The one lady said no we cannot play through, they were waiting on the other 2 ladies who had to stop at the restroom. My buddy said we really want to play through if you aren't ready yet. She said there was no use because the course was backed up and they would just have to turn around and wait on us. The 10th hole is a long par 4 and the group in front was already on the green. There was no reason for them not to let us play through if they were just sitting in their cart waiting.

My friend said "Ma'am we are just going to play through anyway if you are not going now". She jumped out of her cart and starting yelling and telling us we have no golf etiquette and how rude we are. My friend teed his ball up and then she jumps in his way about 20 feet ahead of him. He told her to please back away so she doesn't get hit. She moves over and then starts yelling again. We both hit our shots and went on our way. By this time the group in front had already left the green and the other 2 ladies in her foursome where just pulling up.

We ended up 2 holes later being an entire hole in front of them. They finally caught up to us on 17 when the group in front of us decided to all hit 2 balls off the tee and then spend 5 minutes looking for them. Just when I was teeing off on 17 she came driving up and stopped her cart right behind ours. She didn't stop 10 or 20 yards back to give me some space. I kept my mouth shut but I was fuming. She started telling us we were rude again and didn't know golf etiquette.

Has anyone encountered anything like this? Was it wrong of us to play through without their permission even though the entire par 4 was open and they weren't ready to play?

[DaveE]

Experienced the other side of it this weekend. Our course was backed up and we had a single that tried to skip past but he did ask if we minded. My friend told him that he did mind because the course backed up with three groups in front of us and we would just be waiting on him.

He looked kind of pissed but went back and waited.

I have a regular group and anytime there's room in front of us and we're holding others up we let them through but on weekends it's tough to be a single or double.

At least there was a very good looking women in the group we were waiting on it was warm enough that she was wearing shorts.

[SiberianDVM]

In all honesty, if I was refused permission to play through by someone, I would not do it. If there were more than 1 open hole, I would probably call the clubhouse and ask them to send out a marshall to speed things along.

[shanker]

Maybe you should have sweet talked them a little.
It was 4 ladies after all.

[MCDavis]

I've never been refused, so this is just wierd to me. I think the woman was rude.

However, I agree with Sib's method...let the club handle it.

[sandwedge]

Originally Posted by shanker

Maybe you should have sweet talked them a little.
It was 4 ladies after all.

They were almost old enough to be my grandma. And I used the term ladies loosely.

[DaGris]

I have never had to ask....most folks just let us play through...never had a problem.......

[SiberianDVM]

They probably were somebody's grandmas. And you cut in front of them. Right now they are on the GrannyGolfer.com forum telling all of their buds what asshats you are.

[MIKE1218]

I've never been refused. Hardly need to ask people either. They usually just usher us along. If you were right at the 10th tee, I would have asked the clubhouse to talk to her about the yelling.

[Eracer]

I had the opposite thing happen yesterday. My regular foursome (which usually plays at a reasonable 4:00 - 4:15 pace) had two holes open in front of us, because the course was empty. A twosome caught up to us and we told them to play through. They didn't want to, saying they were afraid they would hold them up. We actually had to talk them into going ahead.

Sandwedge, I feel your pain. But like Doc said, the course is responsible for pacing, and I might have walked into the clubhouse and explained the situation.

If the group ahead of you had cleared the green, and the "ladies" were not even on the tee, then I probably would have gone off ahead of them - consequences be damned. But since the group ahead was still on the hole it became a judgement call, and I think you should have erred on the side of caution. Little old ladies can be fearsome...

[Topflite_D2]

Originally Posted by DaGris

I have never had to ask....most folks just let us play through...never had a problem.......

I second that one. I've never asked someone to play through.

[warbirdlover]

If you were on the 10th hole I would have gone to the clubhouse and raised hell with the pro.

[BStone]

Originally Posted by warbirdlover

If you were on the 10th hole I would have gone to the clubhouse and raised hell with the pro.

You don't need the pro, just get the kid who stacks the balls in a pyramid on the range, he will know that the group that stops at the turn yields their right to the 10th tee. We have enough to deal with without having to go out and handle the geriatric crowd...

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Originally Posted by tmag

You don't need the pro, just get the kid who stacks the balls in a pyramid on the range, he will know that the group that stops at the turn yields their right to the 10th tee. We have enough to deal with without having to go out and handle the geriatric crowd...

Exactly.

Anyone who chooses to stop at the clubhouse after 9 now has to wait their turn and jump back in the line up when A) The pro shop tells them to or B) there is an open space.

At least that's how we run things up here.


Sand, I don't think you did anything wrong. The only thing I could suggest would be to just skipp hitting off the tee and drop a ball out in the fairway or something, just so they can't say you tried to hit them with a ball.

Also, I would have told her what was up when she drove up and opened her mouth a second time.

As a JR. people try to push me around, until you show them it's not going to happen.

[Sandpiper3]

Ive never really had too many problems with people letting me play through, also my friends i generally play with arent the quickest, so we dont play through too many people.

Ive had one guy who ive played through multiple times when im on the course practising either just me or my other friend (who is also a great player) who must hate us for being better or something, but he never lets us play through, but his buddy would always tell him to quit whining and let us go ahead, he'd just go off and pout.

Some people just dont understand the rules and are just disrespectful people period.

Although once most people see my swing they notice im a good player and let me through anyway